Government

After being banned for roughly 15 years, chickens will once again be allowed in the city limits of La Grange.

The La Grange City Council voted 5-2 to pass an ordinance allowing chickens to be raised in the city limits, with councilmen Joe Davenport and Tad Humble voting no. Councilwoman Debbie Pollard was absent from the meeting.

Voters in southwest Oldham County will choose between a fresh face with experience as a non-profit attorney and a former doctor and 22-year veteran of the Kentucky House of Representatives when they hit the voting booths this fall.

Thanks to redistricting, a handful of precincts in Briar Hill, Orchard Grass Hills and surrounding areas are now represented by House District 48, which encompasses mostly northeast Jefferson County.

After months of waiting for a monetary dispute with the state to be resolved, the Oldham County Fiscal Court is once again taking steps to build a new regional jail facility.

The dispute over whether the state will pay for engineer services for the new Oldham County Regional Detention Center is still unresolved, but that didn’t stop magistrates from approving an architect and construction manager for the project.

The Republican focus for the 2014 general election was made abundantly clear at a regional GOP rally in Henry County over the weekend.

“The No. 1 priority is to keep Mitch McConnell in office, and not as minority leader, but as majority leader,” said Kentucky State Senator Paul Hornback, of Shelbyville. “We’ve got to recover this country because it’s not going in the right direction.”

The La Grange City Council has amended its business licensing ordinance after the Kentucky Attorney General said some recent changes were out of line.

Months ago the council amended the ordinance to include attorneys or other businesses who did business within the city limits to apply for a license. At the time, city attorney Steve Emery said the law wasn’t specifically targeted to attorneys but rather strengthening language already in place.

The Oldham County Fiscal Court is joining five other county governments who were honored for their participation in Kentucky Connected, a public-private partnership focusing on education, transportation and economic development in the region.

The group received the 2014 Spirit of Kentucky award and was honored at the annual Governor’s Local Issues Conference in Louisville last week. Gov. Steve Beshear and Department for Local Government Commissioner Tony Wilder presented the award.